


Teenage Troublemaker - Baseball Woes

by LostGirl27



Series: Little Troublemaker [2]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Big brothers are the best, Brotherly Love, Daddy Logan, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Other, Parental discipline in the form of spanking, Protective Older Brothers, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-02-23 00:47:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23703061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostGirl27/pseuds/LostGirl27
Summary: Surprise, everyone! Oops, I did it again, I guess. ;-) This time, it's Lucas that has gotten himself into a little bit of a tight spot here. Since you all liked how Milo was with his little brother in the last story, I put a little more of a focus on the brotherly bond they share in here - but, of course, there's also lots of father-son-fluff, a little bit of discipline and some lame jokes that hopefully get along well with everything else I wrote.In this story, Milo is fifteen years old and the twins are seven.If parental spanking isn't your thing, go away and stop reading it, please. You've been warned.
Relationships: Logan Huntzberger/Original Character(s), Rory Gilmore/Logan Huntzberger
Series: Little Troublemaker [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/325976
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Milo’s POV – Friday night**

“So, the next time Mr. Ovens looked, his desk was plastered all over with…” I never came to tell my Mom the end of the story of how Ryan and I had managed to prank our history teacher, because at that moment, we were both startled when a door on the upper floor opened rather forcefully and a little angry voice yelled: “Yeah, go away, Daddy, I hate you! You’re the meanest Daddy and I don’t love you no more!” Moments later, the same door slammed shut loudly.

Both Mom and I cringed visibly and we exchanged confused looks. “Oh no, what’s happened now?” Mom asked, her face suddenly full of worry. She stood up and was just about to leave the kitchen when Dad came in, his expression a perfect mixture of hurt and frustration. Mom went over to him and as soon as she was within reaching distance, he pulled her to him.

“Hug me, please” he groaned and I was surprised at how subdued he sounded. “I fail at life. I’m the worst Daddy on the planet, you both heard it!”

“Logan” Mom admonished, pushing away slightly and looking at Dad seriously. “What’s happened?”

Dad just hung his head. “He’s never said something like that before… He hates me. You heard.”

“Yes, we all did, the whole neighbourhood did, but I would very much like to know WHY he said something like that… tell me! What’s happened?”

Instead of an answer, Dad let go of Mom completely and walked over to the table where I was sitting. He patted me on the shoulder as he passed by me and took a seat across from me. He sighed deeply and tilted his head back. My eyes widened and I looked between him and Mom, watching her as she made her way back over to the table. She was just about to open her mouth and surely ask Dad again what the problem was, but he suddenly sat straight again and looked at me intently.

“But you still love me, don’t you, champ?” he asked of me, his expression still pained.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little. My usually very confident, sure-of-himself and more often than not even full-of-himself (well, at least in my humble opinion) Dad looked truly and utterly miserable.

I decided then and there that I wanted to lift his spirits, since his sudden daunted demeanour really caught me off guard and yeah, it bugged me. His self-confidence was legendary, so to speak, and it wasn’t easily toppled. And, to be honest, I had never before seen him acting like this after one of us kids had gotten in trouble with him and had said something to make him feel bad about a punishment he gave us. Then again, I had never heard either one of the twins telling him that they hated him or didn’t love him any longer and as hard as I tried to think back, I couldn’t remember one single time that I had told him something of the sort, either.

“Dad, come on” I complained, giving him a smile that I hoped was somehow reassuring and synthesizing at the same time. “Of course I love you, even though you’re old and embarrassing and an overprotective cuss. I still love you, as I do Mom.”

“Wow, jeez, thanks” Mom grumbled, sitting beside me and shooting me a glare. I giggled and gave her an apologetic look, then turned back to Dad. I had fully expected to see a smile on his face at my antics, but instead, he’d put his face into his palms and slouched his shoulders.

“Alright, enough of this” Mom said before I could say anything else, “Tell us what happened!” Obviously, Dad’s change in appearance had started to bug her, too.

“Well, remember how Lucas wanted me to drop him off at his junior baseball practice today?” Dad asked, looking up shortly from his hands, but as soon as he saw Mom nod, he buried his face in them again.

“Yeah, you wanted to drop him off after driving Lori to her friend Ellie’s house for tonight’s slumber party” Mom stated, thoughtfully gazing into distance and obviously recounting all of the twins’ activities and plans for today. Dad nodded, but since he still had his hands on his face, it looked quite awkward.

“Yes, I did drop Lori off and since the meeting with the hospital’s board got cancelled, I decided to stay and watch our little sporting ace and take him back home afterwards. The practice went well, until… trouble commenced” Dad said into his hands, sighing. “He got into a fight with some other kid because said kid was chosen to be the pitcher for today’s practice instead of him.”

Thankfully, he finally took away his hands and reached for an abandoned pen that lay in the middle of the table, toying around with it and staring at it while he talked. “At first, I didn’t want to interfere and let the kids’ coach handle the situation, but when Lucas suddenly pushed the other boy, I couldn’t stand by and watch any longer.”

I raised both my eyebrows involuntarily, remembering my very own experiences with getting into fights. The few memories I did have on that particular topic were not exactly pleasant, as both my parents had made sure of that.

“He didn’t” Mom sighed, shaking her head sadly. “I told him just last week that he cannot be the pitcher every time they practice and that he needs to accept that being part of a team means listening to the coach’s rules and swapping positions.”

Dad nodded and scratched the back of his neck while still staring at the pen in his other hand thoughtfully.

“Yeah, well, seems as though he hasn’t remembered much of the talk the two of you had” he commented dryly. “Anyways, I went over to the boys when I saw them starting to fight in earnest. The coach and I had to call their names more than once and in the end, I had to physically pry Lucas off of the other boy before he was able to cause real damage. He did have the opportunity to deliver two or three quite hard punches, though, leaving the other boy a sobbing mess.”

Mom groaned out loud and I couldn’t help but wince at Dad’s recapitulation of today’s events. That didn’t sound good at all. What had the little guy been thinking?

“What happened next?” Mom asked when Dad kept silent for over a minute, grabbing Mom’s notepad she had been using to put together a shopping list and starting to doodle on it with the pen.

“I tried explaining to him why it wasn’t at all okay to start a fight just because he didn’t get his way, but he didn’t listen in the slightest. Instead, he threw an absolute fit right on the playing field, yelling and cussing at me. I really tried to keep calm, but when he threw himself on the ground, put off his shoes and threw one of them at me, I decided that I’d talked enough.”

“What did you do?” Mom asked, suddenly sounding imploring.

“I really thought about spanking him right there, but I didn’t, I just couldn’t bring myself to it… not with all the on-lookers. And honestly I’m glad I didn’t threaten him with it, because as angry as he was, I would have had to follow through” Dad said, stopping his doodles and looking at Mom. I was thankful for being left out of the whole talk, seriously contemplating just standing up and leaving, but I somehow found myself rooted to the spot.

“I picked him up and wrestled him into the car and drove straight home” Dad continued and I watched as a frown took over his normally calm and relaxed features. “I even forgot about his shoes, can you believe that? I was too angry and too frustrated to care…”

“Screw the shoes, I’m sure the coach or some of Lucas’ friends has taken them in” Mom immediately told him, her voice soothing. She reached out a hand and placed it on top of my Dad’s, patting it lightly.

I couldn’t help but heave a sigh at the whole situation; it was just so… troublesome. It was the first time for me being present while my parents discussed how one of my siblings had gotten themselves in trouble and I had to admit that it really sucked. Until now, I hadn’t ever realized how hard it was on Mom and Dad when one of us had screwed up. They didn’t just look angry or mad, they looked plain desperate and sad – ha, that rhymed!

Dad’s eyes flickered to me and he suddenly looked surprised, as if he had completely forgotten about me being still there. He quickly recovered though and continued his story.

“Once I got him home, I carried him into the house and up to his room, since he wasn’t really in the mood for walking or talking” Dad went on tiredly.

“So he was still in tantrum-mode?” Mom asked disbelievingly and Dad shook his head.

“No” he said. “But he kept his mouth shut when I asked him to talk to me and he refused to walk on his own when I told him to go to his room.”

“I cannot believe that I would ever think or talk in such a way about any of my children, but… what a little brat” Mom mumbled and I found myself silently agreeing with her. I just couldn’t believe that my normally well-mannered and peaceable little brother had behaved in such a way. Normally, Lori was the drama queen of the family that acted out and threw tantrums over trivial things.

“Just you wait, the story gets even better” Dad told us, sarcasm evident in his tone. “So I fully planned on just leaving him in his room to let him cool off a little, but as soon as I had put him down, he took hold of my hand and bit me. He bit me, Rory, can you believe it?”

Both Mom and I were too shocked to say anything, but Mom recovered quite quickly.

“He… WHAT?” she asked incredulously, getting to her feet and starting to pace the kitchen.

“Yeah” Dad murmured shaking his head. “That’s when my patience finally ran out and I gave him three smacks on his bum. After that, he threw me out of his room and I left. End of the story.”

I felt my face getting hot when he told us about spanking my little brother and instantly lowered my head a little. Mom sighed and went over to where Dad sat, hugging him from behind.

“I’m sorry you had to do that, but he sure was asking for it. I mean, honestly… He bit you, Logan” Mom stated and Dad nodded. “I know. And I’m afraid our talk is far from over. I suppose I cannot let him get away with that crazy tantrum and the fact that he picked a fight with that boy, can I?” he asked, more of himself than anyone else in the room.

Suddenly, Dad’s sour yet thoughtful expression turned to one of surprise. “Wait, when did you two get home anyway? Didn’t you hear any of that ruckus?”

Since he was now looking directly at me, I felt I needed to answer.

“No” I blurted out, my voice cracking stupidly. “Mom and I got home ten minutes ago, just before you came downstairs… I was just about to tell her about my school day.”

Dad gave me a soft smile and I felt myself blushing even more.

“I hope your day went better than Lucas’, buddy” he said sincerely and I simply nodded, not really wanting to get into it now, when my day and the few lumps I had encountered at school were nothing compared to Lucas’ and our Dad’s horrible afternoon. I dropped my gaze, suddenly wishing I hadn’t answered my Dad’s question earlier and had let Mom do the talking. I honestly didn’t know why I felt embarrassed all of a sudden, but all the talk about my little brother acting out and my Dad discussing with Mom how he’d already punished him kind of made me nervous. It just wasn’t my place to comment on any of that.

“It was okay” I said, shrugging.

“I guess I’m starting to get embarrassing again. Just great, my little boy hates me and my little man finds me awkward” Dad mused and I looked up surprised, breaking into a relieved smile when I saw that he finally seemed to be joking again. My smile got even bigger when he chuckled and got up, giving my Mom a peck on the cheek and walking around the table until he finally stood right behind me. He poked one finger into my shoulder and I rolled my eyes. “Is that awkward? Or is it embarrassing, rather?” he asked, acting as if he was deeply in thought and trying out different positions to poke his single forefinger into my shoulder and neck.

“I’d say both” I grumbled laughingly, which only encouraged him more. Now he was poking two fingers into both my shoulders.

“Keep up the sass, young man, and I’ll become a lot more embarrassing” he threatened good-naturedly, tugging at my hair playfully which I recently kept in a man bun. I still looked like a younger version of my Dad with my blonde hair, the brown eyes and the relatively sharp facial features, but I liked my new hairstyle a whole lot better. Dad still kept his hair short and somewhat messy, with just a little bit of hair wax, the way he had kept it since… well, since ever, I guess.

“Dad, don’t mess with my hair!” I complained loudly, lightly swatting his hands away.

“Will you be good and stop calling me old and embarrassing and…” he demanded, still standing behind me. I tilted my head to be able to look at him. “… and an overprotective cuss?” I offered and he shot me a mock glare.

“Yeah, we have a deal” I said and he smiled once more, leaning down and dropping a kiss to my forehead. Under normal circumstances, I would have bolted before he would have been able to do that, since I was _way_ too old to be kissed and cuddled, but well… today I let him, because today, it seemed as though he needed some sort of comfort.

“I really hate disturbing your mirthful fooling around, boys, but someone has to go and talk to smarty upstairs” my Mom suddenly reminded and both Dad and I turned to look at her as she was leaning against the kitchen counter, her arms folded in front of her chest and smirking knowingly at us.

Dad sighed and nodded.

“You’re right, honey” he replied and I immediately heard how tired his voice sounded once again. “I’ll go and see if he’s ready to talk to me now.”

“Wait, Dad” I heard myself say, even before my brain had caught up fully with what my stupid running mouth was doing. “Let me go and have a chat with the little tad. Maybe I can talk some sense into him.”

Dad contemplated that for a moment and finally nodded. “Well, alright. Go and try your luck” he said, then he narrowed his eyes at me and added: “But no plotting with him against your old man, or else!”

Both Mom and I laughed at that and at Dad’s hilarious expression, then I got up myself and made my way out of the kitchen and upstairs.

“Come on, love, let’s take your mind off things for a bit. How about you help me make dinner?” I heard Mom say to Dad and snickered when he answered: “Okay, but nothing one can eat at a baseball game. I’m not in the mood for that, I can tell you.”

Once I got to Lucas’ room, I reached out a hand to knock but quickly decided against it. I bent down a little and put my ear against the door, listening. Sure enough, I could hear a little someone’s faint sniffling.

“Lucas?” I asked as I carefully opened the door and stepped into his room, my eyes immediately widening when I took in the scene before me. Lucas was sitting on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest and sobbing right into his kneecaps. He looked up when he noticed my presence and stopped for a millisecond, but upon seeing me, he just broke into a new wave of sobs. I quickly made my way over to him and kneeled down, reaching out my right arm and trying to pull him closer to me. He struggled at first, but in the end decided against it and leaned towards me.

“Hey, buddy, what’s happened? Huh? Why are you crying like that?” I asked in what I hoped was a soothing tone, rubbing his little arms with both my hands. Damn, both Mom and Dad were much better at this than I was. I let him cry some more and was just about to get up and holler for Mom or Dad to come up here and take over, when he turned his head right into my t-shirt-clad chest, wrapped his arms around my middle and clung to me for dear life.

“Mi-mi-milo!” he sobbed and my heart nearly broke at the desperation behind his words. “I… I-I-I-I’m bad!”

“What? No, you’re not bad, Lu, it’s all going to be alright, I promise. Just stop crying and look at me for a sec, okay?”

“Ca-ca-cannn’t” he hiccupped and I grimaced slightly when I felt his face going from right to left as he was obviously trying to rid his damp cheeks from tears and – God, no – snot. I didn’t have the heart to stop him, though; I just let it happen and hugged him a little tighter. I put my chin on top of his blond mop of hair and started muttering things to him, such as “It’s going to be alright, you’ll see” and “Shh, it’s okay, Lu. You’re not alone, I won’t go anywhere, I promise”. As I spoke calmly to him, I couldn’t help but smile a little when I recognized that both Mom and Dad, but especially Dad, always said the same things to me whenever they tried to console me.

This time, it wasn't exactly the other way round, as I wasn't in the middle of consoling my Dad or my Mom, but still... I couldn't remember a time where I had felt more needed and protective of someone than right now, as I was sitting in my little brother's room on the floor and trying to soothe and reassure that little tad I called my brother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing to be scared of in this chapter, really. Enjoy!

**Logan’s POV**

Yeah, okay, I’ll admit it… I am – and always was – hopelessly nosy. I’ll admit it freely. But I just can’t help myself sometimes, like today. I really needed to know what my two boys were talking upstairs. So I’d helped my beautiful wife with the preparations for a simple pasta dish – not mac and cheese, since that was something I really would need to supervise, because otherwise she would just go ahead and dump a few slices of cheese into a bowl of halfway cooked macaroni – and then suggested to her that she could go take a long and calming shower while I got the table set.

She’d regarded me somewhat sceptically for a moment, no doubt already knowing what I had had on my mind.

“You do realize that Lucas didn’t mean what he said, right?” she’d asked, taking me a little by surprise. I’d just stared at her for a few seconds and had nodded, because well… I guess she’d been right. Of course, duh! It had hurt plenty, though, hearing my youngest son yell something like that at me. Deep inside I knew of course that he’d just been angry and that I would definitely find out what exactly it had been that had gotten him in such a state, but still… it had hurt. The bite had hurt too, of course, but the phrase he had shouted at me had hurt worse. God, I still couldn’t believe that my normally sweet and considerate little boy had behaved in such a way. He had never lashed out or hurt someone else in anger before, neither verbally nor physically.

“Yeah, I know” I’d finally said, giving her a brief smile. “And anyways, I have the perfect plan to make sure that everything’s cool again between me and smarty. Wanna hear?”

Rory had chuckled. “Shoot.”

I had clapped my hands once, then rubbed them together and had arched both my eyebrows before speaking again, trying out what I had hoped was the spitting image of an evil villain from a comic book.

“I’ll just need to go buy him one of those fancy LEGO robotic systems and he’ll love me again. Oh, and for the next five days, he’ll get nothing but waffles and chocolate sprinkles for breakfast. That will teach him. Perfect plan, right?”

Rory had rolled her eyes at that. “You’re such a man-child sometimes!”

I had flashed her my sexiest grin – hopefully – and she had kissed me before turning serious again.

“No, seriously, listen. Lucas was just angry and didn’t mean any of those things he said. And I doubt it had anything to do with you scolding him for the fight or the tantrum at the playing field… I even doubt it had anything to do with the three swats you gave him, because, well, he knows how the wind blows by now and he knows what to expect if he disobeys us in such a way. I think our little boy is in the middle of something they call ‘missing tooth puberty’.”

“Huh? That sounds like something out of a German kids' psychology book” I’d commented and Rory had shrugged.

“All I’m saying is… Lucas is growing and changing, he’s not the easy-going toddler he was just a few years ago. For the record, I distantly remember that Milo also had some horrible tantrums up his sleeve around that age. And maybe Lucas is finally catching up on all those years he’s been the perfect little angel – at least compared to our little girl.”

I’d given her a toothy grin at that. It was indeed true. Lori wasn’t the most mischievous of the three (that’s definitely the role Milo had chosen for himself), but she knew how to push our buttons. That went especially for her Mom, which was probably because Lori, at least in regards of personality and character, was the carbon copy of Rory and knew instinctively how to draw her out. When it came to her looks, she – like her twin – was a lot like me with her golden hair and the dark brown eyes. Both the twins had inherited Rory’s small, straight nose and her fair complexion though, whilst Milo was the absolute spitting image of me from head to toe still. What’s even more, our oldest son also behaved _just_ like me in so many ways – he talked, walked, laughed, moved and even frowned like me; something that sometimes really creeped me out.

“Yeah, Lori is something else entirely. All those fancy children’s psychologists would have quite the tough time trying out their fancy studies with her” I had said then, nodding.

“Quite probably. Anyhow, just… just go with your gut with Lucas, Logan, just like you always do with our kids. You’re a great father and I’m sure you’ll manage to find the perfect balance between discipline and indulgence. I trust you one hundred percent, but if you’re in doubt and need a second opinion, you know where you can find me.”

With that, she’d gone upstairs and I had contemplated up until now if I should follow her and, instead of heading into the direction of our bathroom as well, stop by at Lucas’ room. Maybe Milo was already done talking to his little brother? Or maybe he’d already forfeited? No, I guess if that was the case, he’d come downstairs again and gotten some help.

“Ah, shucks!” I finally muttered to myself and made my way into the hall and up the stairs, until I came to the destination I’d had in mind. As I said already, I’m just too nosy.

To my utter surprise, Lucas’ door had been left ajar slightly and I could perfectly hear what was being said inside my youngest son’s bedroom.

“… You’re not bad, Lu, you just made a mistake… or a few mistakes, rather” Milo was saying soothingly and I could hear how Lucas was sniffling and breathing hard. It nearly broke my heart right then and there when he answered desperately: “But, Milo! I am too! I told Daddy that I hate him and that I don’t love him no more! And I… I bit him. And I threw my shoe at him. He must be so mad at me.”

“For the millionth time, short stuff, he’s not mad at you. I promise you that. Yeah, it was stupid of you to go crazy like that and to bite Dad and to yell that horrible stuff at him, but he knows that you didn’t mean it, okay?”

I smiled at the indignant tone Milo had used – it seemed as though he had been spending the past fifteen minutes trying to convince Lucas that I wasn’t mad and had failed so far.

“Do you think so? He… what if he doesn’t love _me_ no more?” Lucas asked in an unsure tone that got louder and more desperate at the last part – it took me every ounce of willpower to not immediately barge in there and scoop him up and into my arms. A second later though, I could hear him blowing his nose and Milo exclaiming “Gross! Leave your shirtsleeve alone and use a handkerchief, would ya?”

“Sorry” came the subdued reply and I heard some shuffling around in the room.

“Anyways, yes, of course I think so. And of course Dad still loves you, silly. He loves you no matter what! Have I ever lied to you about something as important as that?” Milo asked confidently and Lucas thought about it for a few moments before glumly replying: “No. Guess not.”

“See! Now just go and find Dad, tell him you’re sorry for the way you acted earlier and you’ll see for yourself that what I just told you is true” Milo told him and I grinned once more, feeling my heart nearly spilling over with pride for my oldest. Milo was a lot more mature than I had been at fifteen, that’s for sure.

“But… but, Milo” Lucas whined, “What if, what if he… what if he… I don’t wanna get spanked again!”

I couldn’t help but snicker a little at his appalled tone, quickly covering my mouth with both my hands.

“Yeah, well… I’m not sure what Dad will do to you for all the trouble you caused today, but think of it this way” Milo answered, sounding thoughtful. “If you go to him before he has to come and get you, I’m sure he’ll see that you’re truly sorry and give you some credit for that. I’m positive it won’t be all that bad, Lu. Dad _loves_ you and he would never hurt you.”

I could hear Lucas sighing at that – at least I suspected it had been him.

“Okay, I’ll go to Daddy myself” Lucas said bravely, then there were some shuffling noises again, indicating to me that both boys were getting up from their sitting positions. My heartrate quickened a little at the sound, as I knew that the time for me to face my youngest again had come. Then, Lucas’ uncertain voice was heard once more: “Milo? Can’t you come, too and tell Daddy that… that he isn’t allowed to spank me? Maybe tell him that you’ve already scolded me and that that’s enough…?” Lucas asked hopefully and I sighed quietly and somewhat sadly, deciding that I’d heard enough.

I reached out my right hand and slowly opened the door, saying, “I’m sorry to disappoint you here, Lucas, but I don’t think Milo is in any position to make that decision” and stepping inside.

“Dad! Daddy!” the boys exclaimed in unison and I nearly laughed at their facial expressions – one was full of surprise, one was a look of pure guilt and nervousness. I crossed my arms over my chest and stayed where I was, right in front of the wide open door, looking at both my sons expectantly.

“Way to be nosy” Milo muttered under his breath as soon as he had recovered from his initial shock and I shot him a stern look before settling my eyes on Lucas again. The little lad dropped his gaze and I could see the tips of his ears turning pinkish.

“Milo, would you mind giving your little brother and me some privacy?” I asked when Milo didn’t make any move to leave the room and instead had placed his right hand on Lucas’ small shoulder, patting it lightly.

“Sure, Dad” he replied uncertainly, his eyes darting between Lucas and me, until I gave him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry, Lu, you’ll be fine” he finally told Lucas, let go of him and walked over to where I stood.

“He’s really sorry and he knows that he messed up, okay?” he stated, imitating my pose and I rolled my eyes playfully at how stern he sounded.

“Come here, you little paladin” I said, reaching out and pulling him towards me for a quick one-armed hug, which he returned without hesitation. “Thanks for talking to him and standing up for him... And for all the things you said. You’re an amazing older brother, champ” I then added silently and smirked at him.

Milo’s stern look was instantly gone and he broke into a wide smile of his own. I released him and he made a move to leave the room, but once he had reached the door, he turned around once more.

“Lu, if you want, you can come to my room later and we’ll watch a Marvel movie together. The one I told you about, with both Iron Man and Spider Man in it” he suggested and I felt as if I was about to spontaneously combust with sheer love and gratitude for how serious Milo took his role as a big brother.

“Spider-Man: Homecoming, you mean?” Lucas asked timidly, the eagerness in his voice evident, though. Milo nodded.

“You bet. I’m not sure though if it’s okay with our old man… he’s really strict sometimes” he then added, winking at both Lucas and me.

“Humph” I growled good-naturedly. “Just watch it, your old man knows all the comic books by heart and can easily spoiler you spring chickens if you keep up the smart mouth.”

Milo raised both his arms in a yielding gesture. “Zipping it now, Dad, don’t worry. The, erm… older spring chicken will leave you gentlemen to your talk.”

He threw one last reassuring look at his little brother, then left the room and closed the door behind him.

“You really lucked out with having him for your big brother, you know” I remarked fondly and made my way over to Lucas’ bed, sitting down and patting the space beside me.

Lucas was watching me like a hawk and I could tell he was extremely nervous – the thought that, quite obviously, I was the reason for him being that nervous and uncomfortable tugged at my nerves, but I managed to hide my own discomfort.

When he didn’t reply and didn’t make any move to come to me, I sighed.

“Lucas, it’s time to address your earlier behaviour” I said, hoping that it didn’t sound like an unkind command. “I know you don’t really want to talk about today, but I’m afraid that we have to. Your brother was right, you know. You aren’t bad, you’re never bad… but you did act up a lot today and I cannot let that slide. So please come here.”

He eyed me warily for a moment and I sucked in my breath when a look of pure defiance crossed his young face. He shook his head and mumbled: “Don’t wanna, Daddy. You’re just going to… to be angry at me.”

I leaned forward, rested both my elbows on top of my knees and placed my chin on my hands to be able to look at him more intently. He squirmed around a little, toying with the hem of his long-sleeved baseball shirt and avoiding eye contact again.

“What makes you so sure of that, huh?” I finally asked with a slight edge to my voice. I didn’t particularly like it when someone else told me how I was supposed to feel and act and I tried hard to remain calm at the fact that it had come from my seven-year-old son. I was determined to have a civilized talk though and therefore needed to show him that he could talk quite freely, too.

“Because you’re mad at me” he answered tightly, looking at me again and biting his lip. Great, so Milo really hadn’t managed to get through to him with all his talk.

“Lucas, honestly… do I look angry or mad to you?” I wanted to know, tilting my head to the side and smiling lightly at the way he was now narrowing his eyes at me to decipher if I indeed looked angry or not.

After a few seconds, he had apparently decided that I didn’t look angry and took a few hesitant steps towards me. Very good, little one, I thought. When he stood before me and was just out of my reach, I put out my right hand and he suddenly stared at it wide-eyed. I almost winced at that, wondering if he’d thought that I might slap him or something like that, but thankfully, he distracted those fears when he tentatively asked: “Did I hurt you badly, Daddy?”

I raised both my eyebrows at the question and all my calm and steady bravado faltered at his cautious tone. I could see that his eyes were filling with tears and that his bottom lip had started to wobble.

“Aw, smarty. Come here” I pleaded, opening both my arms. When he still hesitated, I added reassuringly: “It’s okay, baby boy, Daddy’s not hurt.”

Only then did Lucas take another step towards me and I reached out, clasped both his slender forearms in my hands and quickly engulfed him into a warm hug. He reacted well to that and immediately relaxed, so I pulled him up and let him sit on my lap before hugging him to my chest again. That’s when his floodgates reopened. He turned his face sideways into my chest and started sobbing. I only sighed, happy that I could finally offer some much-needed comfort and gladly soaking the warm feeling of getting to hold him up myself.

“It’s going to be alright, you’ll see” I whispered into his ear and kissed his head a couple of times while rubbing his back soothingly with one hand. The other hand I then used to card through his short hair. “Just relax and take some deep breaths for me, okay? Good boy.”

“I-I-I’m so-so-sorry, Daddy!” he finally chocked out between sobs and I felt my heart going out for this beautiful child. “I-I-I-I don’t hate you, I-I lo-lo-love you, I… I’m sorry!”

“I know, I know” I replied quietly, smiling into the strands of blond hair and keeping up the caressing touch. “I love you, too – always have, always will. Everything’s fine, okay? Daddy’s here with you and I’m not going anywhere.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really tried my best writing from Lucas' point of view in this chapter - not sure if I did a good job on it, though. I tried to leave all the "fancy words" out, writing easier and as if it really came from the mind of a seven-year-old. Frankly, it's really not easy and it took me quite some time to put it together how I wanted it.
> 
> Oh, and just FYI: All the things I know about baseball are straight from Wikipedia; my apologies for any errors on that particular field. I just thought it somewhat cute that Lucas wanted to be part of a baseball team, because his Grandpa Luke and namesake also has been in his youth.
> 
> ** mentions of spankings in this chapter** Don't read it if that isn't your cup of tea.

**Lucas’ POV**

It felt good to have Daddy hugging me again, even though I had been naughty and… well, even though I had done many things today that I really shouldn’t have.

The funny thing about it all was that I knew before doing them that it wouldn’t really end well for me, but I just couldn’t help myself at that time. Not when… My thoughts were interrupted by Daddy who suddenly stopped rubbing my back and petting my hair and carefully pushed me away from him a bit so he could look at my face.

I felt my face go hot as he was looking at me with that special look – the one where you just knew that he had you all figured out or was at least trying very hard to do so.

“How are you doing, smarty?” he asked, giving me a small smile that I returned, because it felt good that he was calling me by my special nickname. Before I could answer, he suddenly stood up, hoisted me onto his hip and carried me over to my desk, where he sat me down on top of it and rummaged around in one of my rolling containers beneath my desk until he found an opened package of handkerchiefs. He pulled one out of the package and handed it to me.

“Here you go” he murmured and I took the handkerchief with a small, unsure smile of my own.

“Thanks, Daddy” I said sheepishly and used the handkerchief. When I was done, Daddy reached out a hand and took it from me, then threw it into the wastepaper basket beside my desk. He didn’t even find my used handkerchief gross, how strange is that?

“Feeling better now?” Daddy asked kindly and stood before me once more. I could see that his face was still calm and friendly, but he wasn’t smiling no more.

I nodded and felt the butterflies flying around again inside my tummy at the funny look Daddy was giving me. I guess now was the time that he expected me to explain myself for everything that had happened in the afternoon.

He took a single step back, grabbed hold of my desk chair and positioned it before the desk, sat down and continued to look at me with a light frown on his face. He folded his arms in front of his chest and didn’t say anything else. Yep, he waited for me to talk, I knew. Since I didn’t know what to say – or how and where to start, really – I didn’t want to look back at him. I looked at my lap instead and frowned, too. Deep down I knew that if I wouldn’t start talking soon, Daddy would just decide that I needed to spend more time in my room on my own or that it was already time to move on to the punishment. I gulped at the thought.

I had done a few stupid things so far, most of it had happened when I was still very little, though. I had cussed at both Mommy and Daddy or at Lori (because she really could be a stupid cow sometimes!) and Milo, I even had cussed at my grandparents a few times when I didn’t like what they told me to do. I threw a few tantrums when I was smaller and I had wandered off more than once, because… well, because it seemed like a good idea at the time and because I just wanted to go exploring. And I had destroyed Mommy’s mobile phone once by throwing it into the pool, because I didn’t want her to get all those stupid work calls no more and pay more attention to me instead. All those things had resulted in stupid time-outs, stinking early bedtimes and losing TV-pri-pivi… well, I wasn’t allowed to watch TV after, and a few times, Daddy had spanked me. So far, he’d only given me quick single swats on the bum for being cheeky, not doing what he or Mommy had asked me to do and telling him and her no, or for telling fibs. For the few times that I had wandered off on my own when I had been younger and for the destroyed mobile phone, Daddy had spanked me over his lap and on my naked bum, which had really been embarrassing. And… oh, damn. It wasn’t all too long ago when Mommy had gotten angry at Lori and me for fighting over our Nintendo Switch games – we had been rolling around on the floor scrambling with each other when Mommy had entered our playroom and had caught Lori how she was just about to bite into my shoulder. She had scolded us both for a long time and we had to hand over the games we had been fighting over. And after dinner that evening, Daddy had called us over to the couch in the living room, had sat us both down and had scolded Lori some more because she had wanted to bite me. He had threatened that she would get a spanking if she ever did bite someone.

I’m not sure if that threat was only meant for her, I now thought sadly before giving Daddy a careful look. He was still waiting for me to start talking, the look on his face getting sterner and therefore scarier by the minute.

I was just about to say something when he suddenly cleared his throat and asked: “Are you ready to talk to me now or would you like some more time to think things through? If you’re not ready, I’ll go and finish dinner while you stay here and have another few minutes to reflect upon your actions today.”

“Can’t I come downstairs with you? I’ll just…” I asked hopefully and tried to use my best puppy-dog-eyes on Daddy, but he shook his head.

“Not a chance, young man” he interrupted me and I gulped again at how strict he sounded. “Either you start explaining yourself now or do it later, but you will stay here in your room until we’ve had that talk.”

“Daaaaddy!” I whined drawing out the word longer than it needed to be, but he wouldn’t budge, of course.

“Nuh-uh, you cannot play out the Daddy card with me and win, not right now” he said and grinned shortly, which made me frown even more. “Those are your options. What’s it going to be?”

“Talk now” I replied and he raised one eyebrow at me at the rude tone I had used.

“Well, little boy, enough with the stalling, then. You made a few rather unpleasant decisions today and I would very much like to know the reasons behind those. How about we start at the very beginning, which is… you getting into a fight with your teammate at the playing field. Can you tell me what was going on in that clever head of yours when you did that?”

I groaned and folded my arms over my chest like he had, thinking that that might be a good pose to start such a stupid talk.

“I just wanted to be the Ace Pitcher. You know, the one that starts the game… because it’s my po-po-si… potision” I said, stumbling over the word until Daddy said “Position, you mean” and I nodded. He held up one hand and twirled it to show me that I should go on with my explanation.

“Yeah. It’s my position, Daddy” I whined. “It’s not fair that the coach took it away from me and gave it to Max.”

“You wanted to be the Ace Pitcher” Daddy repeated thoughtfully and I nodded eagerly. “But I know for a fact that you played that role the last two training sessions already. I also know that Mommy has had a talk with you about listening to the coach and swapping positions with your teammates. So what made you think it was okay to insist on it today?”

I couldn’t help but glare at Daddy at that. Stupid rules! I liked playing as Ace Pitcher best, I was good at it and I really should be allowed to open each game and do what I’m best at, shouldn’t I? That’s the only thing that really makes sense. But whenever I had tried to tell the coach or my Mommy that, they had told me that I needed to obey the rules and swap with the others once in a while so I could practice the other positions, too. I had argued that I didn’t need to try out other positions, because I only wanted to get better at being the Ace Pitcher. They wouldn’t listen, so why should I listen to them?

When I had finished telling my Daddy those thoughts, I looked up once more and hung my shoulders at the serious look he still had on his face. He wasn’t on my side either and would start yelling at me now. I was a little surprised when he didn’t and all he did was breathing out heavily and then looked at me with a small smile.

“Lucas, you’re really as stubborn as a mule sometimes” he said, still smiling and I glared some more, arguing “I’m not!” to which he even gave a short laugh. He put one of his hands to his forehead and rubbed at it a little, then looked back at me until I started to squirm around some on my desk – it really wasn’t very comfortable, sitting here and being watched by him. He noticed of course, stood up and came over to me again.

“Come here, let’s snuggle for a bit longer. Maybe that helps you to settle down. Would you like that?” he offered and when I nodded, he lifted me up and into his arms, then went back over to the chair again and sat down with me in his lap. I was now sitting on his left knee, facing his other one and leaning against his chest. That was a lot better than sitting on the desk, because it made me feel less alone and even less in trouble.

“Listen, smarty. I have a feeling that you know already that it wasn’t okay for you to pick a fight with Max, just because he got to be the Ace Pitcher for today’s practice and because you weren’t getting your way” Daddy told me while I played around with the buttons on his shirt to give my hands something to do. “The reason why your coach lets you swap positions is because he wants you to have a go at every aspect of playing the game and he wants the same for your teammates. I understand that you like to be the one that starts the game and that you feel confident in that position, but you’re part of a team and therefore need to let your teammates have a go at the Ace Pitcher position as well. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

I didn’t really like where this was going, but I nodded and leaned backwards a little, knowing that he would prevent me from falling by putting an arm around me and hugging me to him.

“You do? Try explaining it to me, then” he ordered softly and I almost groaned out loud again.

“I have to try out all the positions and give it a go and I also have to let the others try it out… even though I don’t want to try out anything else. And I have to listen to Coach Irwin” I answered after some thought and looked up at my Daddy, smiling when he rolled his eyes at me but then nodded.

“That’s about it, smarty” he praised and my smile got even bigger. He laughed a little and then got serious again. “And as for the last part, yes. Being part of a sports team also means to have to listen to your coach and to let him make the decisions. He knows all the rules of the game and knows your strengths and weaknesses, so he gets to decide on how the practice proceeds.”

“But, Daddy” I complained, making fists out of my hands. “It’s unfair. Why can’t you talk to my coach and tell him that I should be allowed to play as Ace Pitcher?”

“Because, son” he replied in almost the same tone I had used, “As I already said, it’s a part of playing in a sports team. The coach’s rules stand, there’s no way around them. If you don’t want to accept his rules, you cannot play _any_ position and no amount of persuasion from me could change that.”

I didn’t say anything to that because I already knew that what he had said was true. Coach Irwin was strict, probably even stricter than Daddy was sometimes and if he wanted my teammates and me to swap positions, Daddy could talk until he was blue in the face and the coach would still not allow me to play as Ace Pitcher. Deep down I had already known all of it – it had just made me so angry at the training session this afternoon and knowing that my Daddy was watching had somehow only made it worse.

“Do you understand all of that?” Daddy asked after some seconds and rubbed my arm a little.

“Yeah” I finally mumbled, hanging my head. “But it’s still unfair.”

“I’m glad you understand what I was trying to explain to you. Of course you’re allowed to think of it as unfair, you’re even allowed to tell me or Mommy or the coach that, but I don’t think the outcome of the latter will be to your liking” Daddy stated, ruffling my hair once more. “Anyway, what you’re _not_ allowed to do is start a fight with someone or throw a tantrum, like you did today. I can understand why you were angry, but that doesn’t mean that it was okay for you to push Max or even punch him. And it wasn’t okay to yell at me and fight me on everything I asked you to do after that.”

He reached out a hand and gently lifted my chin up and turned it, so he could look me in the eyes.

“You know how Mommy and Daddy feel about fighting, don’t you?” he asked sternly and I suddenly wanted nothing more than to ran away or… cuddle again with him instead of having to answer those questions.

“Yes, Daddy” I whispered.

“And you also know how we feel about throwing tantrums when you don’t like what an adult tells you to do and throwing things at people… and I suppose you also know how we feel about _biting_ , since it wasn’t all that long ago when I had a chat with you and Lori about it” he went on and with every word he spoke, his voice got sterner and sterner. By the end of the sentence, he was deeply frowning at me again, which made the butterflies in my tummy fly around wildly.

“But….” I started but somehow lost my courage and kept silent again. He let go of my chin and I looked away.

“Speak up, kiddo” Daddy ordered, his voice calm and quiet. “But…?”

“But I didn’t mean to!” I burst out before I even knew what to say.

“Didn’t mean to… what?” he asked doubtfully.

“I didn’t mean to do any of it” I replied and stuck out my bottom lip for Daddy to see. He laughed again, but it didn’t sound very happy.

“Hmm” he muttered in reply and I could feel my face getting hot once more. “To me, it sounds more like you didn’t mean to get in trouble, but you’re not really sorry for the way you behaved. Just ten minutes ago, you sounded a lot sorrier when you asked me if I was hurt, but now, I’m not so sure anymore. That’s okay, though, because we haven’t had the chance to talk about your punishment yet.”

Uh-oh, that didn’t sound good at all. Sure enough, I was suddenly lifted from his lap and placed on my own two feet in front of him and between his knees.

When I saw that the look he was giving me was still steely, I looked to the floor instead.

“Of all the things you did today, what do you think deserves the most punishment?” Daddy asked and I shuddered, feeling my heart thumping against my chest.

“Yelling at you that I hate you” I answered and looked up, surprised when I saw that the angry look was suddenly gone from his face.

“Oh, Lucas” Daddy said, sounding sad. “I’m going to be very honest with you. I’m glad that you didn’t mean what you said to me, but I already knew that you didn’t. You were angry, you couldn’t think straight and sometimes, when people get like that, they say things to others they don’t really mean. It’s easiest with the people you love, because you know that they won’t go away because of what you said. Believe me, I know.”

“Really?” I asked with wide eyes.

“Of course” he replied, smiling. “Everyone gets angry once in a while and feels the need to lash out verbally at someone else. I said some pretty horrible things to my parents and even to my friends sometimes, especially when I was around Milo’s age. The most important thing is that you take on the responsibility for the nasty things you said and don’t repeat them if you’re truly sorry.”

“I am, Daddy, I’m really sorry” I said, even before he had finished his sentence. He reached out his right hand and stroked my cheek. “I know, son, and I forgive you, of course.”

“Let’s get back to my earlier question, then” Daddy said after a moment and I frowned.

“Fighting with Max and biting you?” I asked and he raised one eyebrow at me before nodding. “Can you tell me why?”

“Cause… I hurt Max and you” I mumbled.

“Exactly, my smart boy” he replied and somehow I already felt a little bit better, the butterflies in my tummy had stopped flying around. “You did hurt Max when you punched him and yes, you bit me in my hand and that hurt, too, even though what I told you earlier is true – I’m not permanently hurt. But you’re a big boy who knows that hitting, deliberately throwing things at and biting others is absolutely unacceptable.”

He stopped talking and I looked down at my hands, not pulling away when he took them into his own.

“That’s why you have left me no choice but to punish you, Lucas” Daddy then said. “Remember what I told you and Lori would happen if you got into a fight again or bit someone?”

“You told her she would get spanked if she did it” I replied, then asked hopefully: “But you said it to her, so…?”

I couldn’t help but look at him again and quickly lost my hope when I saw that he had raised an eyebrow at me again.

“Nice try, smarty, but what I said back then goes for both of you, of course” Daddy said sternly. “I’m sorry, but you’ve got a spanking coming your way and you’re going to get it on your bare bottom, too.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ** parental spanking in this chapter ** 
> 
> Do NOT read it if it offends you.

**Logan’s POV**

As soon as the words were out, I felt my heart aching with an intensity I really hadn’t anticipated, although it wasn’t the first time that I had said them and surely, it wouldn’t be the last time either (considering the fact that all my three kids were diehard trouble magnets). Urgh, being a father sometimes really sucked. Or at least, some facets of it did mightily.

The look of pure sadness that was now plastered all over my boy’s features almost made me cave, but I knew I shouldn’t and couldn’t. I quickly contemplated delaying the whole thing until bedtime rolled around, but I rejected the thought out of hand almost immediately. Lucas wouldn’t be able to enjoy his dinner at all if I did that, I was sure of it. And in all honesty, neither would I.

Apart from that, I might be quite strict when it came to Milo, Lori and Lucas disobeying me or their Mom and also may be a long way from the laid-back and reckless youth that I once had been, but I wasn’t an absolute asshole. Lucas deserved getting his little bottom smacked for the way he had behaved today, but he didn’t deserve for me to make him wait for another few hours.

No, I needed to do it now, even though the mere thought was making my stomach do a flip-flop and my conscience heavy.

He had dropped his gaze once more and was now looking at our hands that were still intervened. I gave both his little hands a gentle squeeze.

“Hey, son” I called softly. “Please look at me.”

When he obeyed, I gave him a smile and said: “It won’t be that bad, I promise. You already know what to expect.”

“But, Daddy… I’m really sorry. I don’t wanna get spanked… _again_ ” he whined, looking utterly pitiful.

Oh no. He’d started sniffling softly now, too. Why did he have to make it so hard, harder than it already was and probably needed to be? Not that I couldn’t understand him, of course.

“I know you don’t and I know that I’ve already given you three swats today, but those were to stop your tantrum” I explained as patiently and as calmly as I could. “Now, Daddy needs to make sure that you will think twice before you punch or bite someone the next time.”

“But, Daddy… please?” he asked, very close to tears now. “I can just stay in my room or... or you can have my Nintendo or I give you Linus…” The last part he spoke with an uncertain glance towards his bed were, sure enough, a small stuffed kangaroo was sitting and waiting for its little safe-keeper’s bedtime. The kangaroo had once been Milo’s favourite stuffed toy and due to a very unfortunate incident involving an at the time four-year-old little boy forgetting his stuffed lion Rupert at a park in Boston, had changed hands. Milo had been very understanding and had even scoffed at Rory’s and Logan’s offer to get him a new one instead, exclaiming that he was twelve now and didn’t need a stuffed toy anymore. Since then, Linus had replaced Rupert and was even dearer to Lucas than his lion had been.

I shook my head slowly. “No, Lucas, this is not up for debate. I’ve warned you about fighting and particularly about biting someone and yet you did it anyway. And to top it off, you were really pushing your luck with me the whole afternoon. I’m sorry, but this is going to happen” I told him, trying hard to keep the apologetic look off my face and probably failing.

He sighed softly and didn’t say anything else, so I gently pulled him forward a little and wrapped my arms around him once more, since a little bit of comfort didn’t hurt anybody.

“You’re getting one smack for each year of your life” I told him, feeling how he tensed up and hating myself for causing him distress.

Thankfully though, he wasn’t going to fight me – not this time, anyway, which surprised me a little. I hadn’t had to spank Lucas often so far, but he had always tried to argue with me before. Sometimes, I would have had to start counting, threatening with an additional swat if I got to the count of three. And once, he’d even run from me and hidden in Milo’s room. Since Milo had been spending the night at his best friend’s house back then, I knew instantly where smarty had taken off to. I had followed him at that time, taking my lovely time and once I’d arrived at my oldest son’s room, I had opened the door a crack and spoken in what I had hoped was a soothing tone, telling Lucas (who was indeed hiding away under Milo’s bed) that he could stay in his hiding spot until he was ready to come out and get his punishment over with. He’d defiantly yelled “I’ll stay here forever, then!” and I had patiently answered that I would wait forever, then, and that I had all the time in the world. Five minutes later, he’d come out with tears rolling down his little cheeks, apologizing and asking to be cuddled. I had happily obliged and had waited for him to fully calm down before addressing the spanking again.

Now, his little head nodded up and down against my chest after a few moments of silence and I decided that the time had come to get it over with.

“Is there anything else you would like to say or ask?” I offered and he shook his head.

“Alright, come here then” I muttered, loosening my hold on him and waiting until he stepped back with a whimper, hiding his face in the crook of his arm. I didn’t comment on it, of course. I reached out and swiftly opened the belt buckle of his small baseball pants, then unbuttoned the fly and left it like that before pulling him close once more and guiding him face-down over my lap. He shifted around a little and whined when I tugged down his pants and undies. I sucked in my breath for a second time that day and nearly gave a whimper myself at how much my heart ached at having to do what needed to be done.

I patted Lucas’ back gently, then raised my right hand and brought it down on the small pale backside in front of me. Since my son was fairly small and slender for a seven-year-old, I almost covered both his cheeks with a single palm. Lucas gave a startled yelp at the first smack and I needed to push away all the guilt and sadness with full force as to not lose my cool demeanour right then. I swallowed audibly and set my lips into a firm line as I gave him two more swats.

I almost never talked during a spanking, feeling that I really didn’t need to lecture more – I could remember quite well how it felt to be in the kid’s position and being lectured further only added embarrassment. Being embarrassed was probably part of getting spanked and was to be expected, but it wasn’t my main intention.

“Daddy, please – owy! Stop, I-I-I’m, ow, sorry!” Lucas pleaded after the fourth smack and I was glad that it was almost over.

“We’re nearly done, Lucas. You’re being very brave” I told him sincerely and he immediately stopped his pleas. I quickly delivered the remaining three swats with a tiny bit more force and directly to the lad’s sit spots, where thighs meet the bottom. He let out a high pitched wail at the last one and then just went on sobbing while I tried to carefully pull up at least his undies. The baseball pants I tugged down completely to give his legs a little freedom. As soon as I was done, he squirmed around on my knees trying to get up, so I reached underneath him and pulled him up, tentatively hugging him to me. Sometimes, Lori didn’t want to be hugged right after being spanked, so I always made sure not to let my own wish for offering comfort being overly shown and waited with all my kids until they clearly signalled that the hug was appreciated.

Lucas acted instinctively, straddled my thighs, grabbed hold of two fistfuls of my shirt and tightly held onto me, openly crying into my chest. His whole body shook with sobs as I embraced him tighter. I laid my left cheek on top of his golden mop of hair while carefully rubbing his back.

“Everything’s alright, sweetheart, it’s all over and you’re very much forgiven” I whispered and felt a warm feeling of relief spread inside of me when his little hands let go of my shirt, snaked around my middle and even started to imitate the rubbing movements I did on his back.

We stayed like this for quite some time while I told him how much I loved him over and over and that he was completely forgiven. Especially with Lucas, it sometimes took a little more reassuring of the fact that I wasn’t still holding any grudges against him.

He had stopped crying long ago, but I still held him until he finally wriggled back a little, indicating to me that I could loosen my hold.

“Daddy?” he asked feebly, his dark orbs of eyes searching mine.

“Hmm?”

“No more spankings, ever. Promise?” he asked seriously and I had to press my lips together for a second to keep from bursting out laughing. Secretly, I was singing from the tree tops, because if Lucas was bargaining with me again, he was fine. I managed to school my features into a somewhat neutral look and replied: “If you would never disobey or defy me again like today, I’d be glad, because that would mean that I wouldn’t have to spank you ever again.”

He frowned deeply at me and a pout formed on his lips, so I opted to change the subject instead of discussing it further.

Tapping his pouting mouth with my forefinger, I asked incredulously: “Did you really expect me to take away Linus from you as a punishment?”

Lucas dropped his frown and shot me an apologetic smile, then shrugged.

I let him dandle on my knees lightly and tickled his ribs with my right hand while holding him in place with my other arm. The squeals of delight and laughter that followed were music to my sore ears and the look of pure, sudden happiness on his little face was truly beautiful, probably the most beautiful thing I had seen in a long time – then again, I felt that way every single time that I witnessed my kids or Rory laughing wholeheartedly.

“Little scamp, you!” I exclaimed affably, stopping my assault for a short while to lean in and deliver a few wet kisses to his cheeks and neck. “You really thought I was _that_ mean, didn’t you?!”

“Stop it, Daddy, you’re dribbling all over me!” he shrieked and hollered with laughter, squirming on my lap and trying to get away. I smiled and stopped for a bit to let him breathe.

“Dribbling, you say? The nerve!” I flustered, bouncing him up and down on my lap a few times. “Honestly, what am I to you? Some mean old grouch that steals your stuffed toy and drools where he goes?”

Lucas blinked a few times. Then, a mischievous look crossed his face and his brown eyes suddenly shone with cheekiness. He nodded eagerly, making me gasp in mock horror.

“I really ought to put you over my knee again, just for that” I threatened, smiling wickedly and shaking my right forefinger at him, sending him into yet another fit of giggles.

“Noooo! Please, Daddy!” he pleaded, reaching both his small hands out and cupping my face in them. “I’ll be good.”

“Yeah? How good will you be, I wonder?” I asked, furrowing my brow and puffing up my cheeks as he was still holding them in his hands.

“I won’t tell you no more that you’re dribbling, even if you are!” he offered honestly and this time, I couldn’t help the bark-like laugh that escaped my throat. Touché, smarty.

“You’re priceless, buddy” I commented, leaning forward and kissing him on the forehead before lifting him off my lap with him still smiling.

I stood up from his desk chair and placed it back where it belonged, then went over to one of Lucas’ drawers, getting out a pair of cozy pants and offering it to him while I got a clean shirt from his closet.

“I thought you might want to take off your baseball shirt and wear something cozier” I explained at the puzzled look he gave me.

“Kay, Daddy” Lucas mumbled when he had put on the pants, raising both his arms so I could kneel down before him and help him with the shirt.

“There, you’re as good as new. Let’s go and see about dinner now, huh? You must be really hungry. Your Mom and I have prepared your favourite spaghetti” I told him, getting up again and reaching out my right hand for him to take. He immediately did and then nodded, practically jumping up and down as we walked out of his room together.

“Daddy?” he asked and I gave him a smirk, suddenly wondering when he would stop calling me Daddy and declare that he was now too old to be calling me that. Milo had started calling me Dad instead of Daddy when he had been about nine years old.

“Yeah, smarty?”

“If you want, you can come to Milo’s room too later and watch the Spidey movie with us” Lucas invited nonchalantly, then peeked up at me seriously.

“But no talking during the movie!” Lucas all but ordered, pointing the forefinger of his free hand at me and narrowing his eyes.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? Are you implying that I’m always talking while we watch a movie or what?” I asked as we walked done the stairs and he wriggled out of my gentle grasp, sprinting the rest of the way, giggling madly.

“Cheeky little brat, just wait ‘til I get my hands on you!” I announced, following my son downstairs and laughing all the way.

Oh, little troublemaker, you’re truly something else.

**The End – for now.**


End file.
